Italian GP: Renault Friday practice notes

The Renault F1 Team completed a productive, low-key day's work during
today's opening free practice sessions for the Italian Grand Prix in
Monza.
Following a busy three-day test last week on the same circuit, the team
decided to sit out the ...

The Renault F1 Team completed a productive, low-key day's work during
today's opening free practice sessions for the Italian Grand Prix in
Monza.

Following a busy three-day test last week on the same circuit, the team
decided to sit out the opening practice session before completing its
schedule of work this afternoon.

As at every circuit, the chassis programme in practice was devoted to
tyre evaluations, and fine-tuning parameters such as the car balance and
braking stability, both of which are important factors even at a power
circuit such as Monza. For the engine team, their work concentrated on
evaluating gear ratios and honing engine mapping to find the optimum
compromise between outright performance and reliability.

Although neither driver came close to topping today's times, the level of
performance was in line with expectations for the opening day and initial
signs of the Michelin tyre performance are encouraging. The team will
build on this solid start tomorrow, ahead of qualifying and the race.

Fernando Alonso:

"We ran a lot here last week, so today was all about checking off some
specific jobs for the race, and testing the tyres. The Michelins seem
very consistent, and the performance was right there from the first lap
too. The times suggest we are not so quick, especially compared to
Ferrari, but this is Friday and we know how much things can change
through the weekend."

"I had a bit too much understeer today that meant I
couldn't attack the corners as I wanted to, but we will dial this out
overnight and I am confident the car will feel good tomorrow. I think we
have made a good start to the weekend, and we now need to build on this."

Giancarlo Fisichella:

"Last week's test meant we could do a lot of preparation for the race, and
today was just about checking the car really. We were conservative in the
way we ran the car, especially for me as my engine has already done a
hard race in Turkey."

"The car balance isn't perfect yet and we have some
understeer, but we did our programme, did the tests we wanted to and now
need to study the data overnight. The performance wasn't fantastic today,
but I am not worried for the rest of the weekend."

Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering:

"We have become used to talking about running a 'normal' Friday of
tyre evaluation and minor set-up changes on the opening day of each Grand
Prix this year. However, Monza puts us in a unique position as we tested
here just last week for three days, and completed over 3500 km."

"As a result, our Friday programme did not need to be as extensive as usual,
and we only ran in the second practice session to get confirmation of the
tyre performance and check the car over. Both Michelin tyres look very
consistent and although we have some fine-tuning to do on the car
balance, the drivers were happy with the handling. We have made a solid
start to our weekend, and expect to see our relative performance increase
tomorrow."

Denis Chevrier, Head of Engine Operations:

"This is a circuit where every hundredth of a second counts under heavy
braking, and in the high speed corners which dictate the car's speed on
the long straights that follow. As a result, today was about testing a
number of discrete variables on both the car and engine, and collecting
the results we needed."

"Both engines performed well, including Fernando's
new D specification, and the chassis team has obtained good results from
its work. We will combine the different elements overnight, and expect to
see our optimum package come together tomorrow."

"As always, the key to
success will be finding the right compromise between performance and
reliability. A non-finish would be catastrophic for our championship
chances, and this is uppermost in our minds at the most demanding engine
circuit of the season.